Winds of War

by Dennis Morrow

  “Do you see what I see?” Jeremy asked Matt. “How did Torron get aircraft?”

  “It looks like a cross between an airplane and a flying saucer,” Matt said as one whirred past them.

  “They’re so quick,” Caroline said. “They hover with no visible way of keeping them in the air and then instantly shoot to the other end of the runway where they land. I wonder what kind of weapons they have. Their technology is much more advanced than ours. I believe we’re going to be outmaneuvered and outgunned.”

  The low-pitched gurgling sound got louder as a creature lumbered out of the portal onto the ground.

  Steve scratched his head. “Is that a machine or an animal? At first glance, I thought it was a gigantic lobster, but at a closer look, I think it could be a machine.”

  “I don’t know, Steve,” Jeremy said. “It certainly doesn’t look like a war machine. It’s fat and slow. The claws are the only things that look dangerous.”

  “If you had to describe how big this giant lobster thing is, Jeremy, what would you say?” Steve asked.

  “I’d say it’s three or four times the size of a school bus, with arms and large pincers,” Jack said. “It doesn’t look dangerous. It moves like a large slug.”

  “Given all the high-tech equipment we’ve seen, this doesn’t fit,” Jeremy said.

  They watched as several of these creatures made their way to the water’s edge and slithered into the orange water, where it was easy to see the monstrous beasts. As soon as the creatures were in the water, they shot up and down from one end to the other.

  “Did you see that?” Jack asked, with eyes wide open. “They’re superfast once they get into the water.”

  “I wonder what they’re called,” Jeremy said.

  A soldier passing by heard Jeremy’s remark. “The aircraft are Oar-7s, and that sea monster over there is a Revilo [rēvīlō].” He went on his way.

  ~~~

  Early the next morning, the team was escorted to the practice range.

  It’s hard to tell what the weather is like looking up through the pale blue dome, but it looks like it might be overcast, Jesse thought as she entered the range. I think this will be our last day inside the dome. It’s too risky to stay.

  They were issued three small boxes—one yellow, one blue, and one red—each about the size of a Milky Way candy bar. They were then led to the shooting range.

  “This is our ammo?” Jack asked.

  “There has to be more to it than this,” Caroline said.

  “I have to go to the bathroom.” Matt ducked into a nearby men’s room. He went into a stall, closed the door, and pulled his knapsack out of his backpack and unfolded it. He laid the rifle and three small boxes on the floor and made a copy of them. He stuffed the copy into his knapsack, then folded the knapsack and shoved it into his backpack.

  “You okay?” Jesse asked as Matt came out of the men’s room out of breath.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Matt responded. “I needed to take care of business.” He winked at Jesse.

  A nearby Locals soldier saw the wink and confronted Matt. “Let me see your backpack.”

  “Why?” Matt responded.

  “Let me see your backpack,” the soldier said more forcefully. He grabbed Matt’s arm and swung him around.

  Before anyone saw it coming, Steve hit the soldier and he went to the ground. Two Humongers grabbed Steve and hauled him off. Steve looked back at the others, and to their surprise, he smiled and winked.

  “What’s he up to?” Caroline asked.

  “I’m not sure, but he’s playing with fire,” Matt said.

  “More like dynamite,” Jack added.

  “Don’t worry about Steve,” Jeremy said. “He can take care of himself. Let’s see how these weapons work.”

  They went to the range, where a Locals soldier showed them how to load the weapon. He laid the weapon on its side, revealing three small compartments with sliding covers. They were color coded yellow, blue, and red. “Don’t make a mistake,” the soldier said. “Open the yellow cover and pour all the beads from the yellow box into the magazine.”

  They did as instructed. This was the rifle portion of the weapon. They expected to load eight or ten bullets. Instead, several hundred tiny yellow beads poured into the magazine. They repeated the same thing for the blue and red boxes. The beads in each case looked the same except for the color.

  “You have two hundred rounds in each magazine,” the soldier said. “At the end of your practice, you must turn in any unused beads before leaving the range. The entire army from Gandoral will be in place in four days, and the battle begins in five. At that time, you’ll each receive ten boxes of each color. You can return to the range at any time for more practice.” He pointed to a switch near the trigger. “This switch changes the weapon from semiautomatic to fully automatic. He pointed to another switch near the trigger. “This switch changes the weapon from a rifle, top barrel, to a grenade launcher, middle barrel, and then to the bottom barrel where the weapon will shoot laser arrows.” He motioned for them to go and practice.

  ~~~

  Steve was taken to a holding area for prisoners.

  “So you’re a troublemaker, huh?” the Locals guard said.

  “Yeah, I don’t like to be pushed around,” Steve said.

  “So you’re a troublemaker and a tough guy?”

  “I can hold my own,” Steve said.

  “Okay,” the soldier said. He pointed to four other prisoners, all gang members, and motioned for them to come forward. He threw half a dozen knives and two machetes into the middle of the floor. “This is a fight to the death. The winner becomes my right-hand man. Go!”

  Showing off his speed, Steve quickly picked up a machete and a knife. Not in a killing mood, he dodged, moved, and defended himself. The four opponents became three, then two, and finally one. He was now faced with no choice but to fight for his life.

  ~~~

  When the team got back to the barrack, Steve was sitting on his cot waiting for their return.

  “What happened?” Jesse asked. “You look like you’ve been in a fight.”

  “Yeah, actually a fight to the death,” Steve responded.

  “To the death?” Matt asked.

  Steve responded in a Schwarzenegger voice. “Yeah, but they were all bad. They put five of us up against each other. I won. I’ve been promoted from soldier to section leader of the Oakland Second Regulars. I got you into my section.”

  “Are we staying here?” Jack asked.

  “No, no, we’re not staying,” Jesse said emphatically. “We’ll be out of here by the end of the day.” She began attending to Steve’s multiple injuries. “Did you use your powers during the fight?”

  “No. Well, maybe my speed a little.” Steve grinned.

  “We need to get back to Travis and report what we’ve learned,” Caroline said. “General Wisecoff needs to know as much as possible so that the decisions he makes in the next few days are the right ones. How are we going to get out of here?”

  ~~~

  Two deer had been dressed and were hanging from a beam attached to the cabin. An empty hook waited for a third deer.

  “Maybe tomorrow will be our lucky day,” Sammy said. “I think out best chance is the Susanne Ravine.”

  Gary laughed. “You can’t help yourself, can you? You like to make a kill there because the ravine is named after your ex-wife. You are officially sick.”

  “Look on the horizon,” Johnny said. “Two more F-18s. They’re headed straight this way.”

  They heard a strange, low-pitched hum coming from the opposite direction. When they turned to look, they saw an Oar-7 flying directly over them. It stopped only a thousand feet straight above the cabin.

  Gary ran into the cabin and returned with two boxes of ammo and his 30.06 hunting rifle.

  The two F-18s fired rockets at the Oar-7, but the rockets exploded before hitting the Oar-7. Two laser beams shot from the Oar-7, instantly exploding the F
-18s. Both planes went down, and the hunters could see two parachutes in the distance.

  Gary began firing his rifle, one round after another, as fast as he could. The Oar-7 turned, and with a blast of its cannon, fire erupted. The cabin and the 4x4 Jeep were destroyed. Luckily, the three hunters were thrown into the undergrowth with minor cuts and bruises.

  “What was that?” Sammy asked.

  “That looked like a flying saucer,” Gary said as he got to his feet.

  “What!” Johnny exclaimed.

  “Gather whatever you can,” Gary said as he picked up a burned and dented canteen. “We’ve got a long walk ahead of us. We’re heading home. We’re being invaded by aliens.”

  ~~~

  The sun was setting behind the hills across the San Francisco Bay. The overcast skies had cleared enough to produce a spectacular sunset. Because the team was looking through the pale blue dome, the colors were changed from the typical yellows, oranges, and reds to shades of green.

  “Wow, that must be a great sunset,” Caroline said.

  A few hours later, the team huddled in the corner of their large tent. No one else was paying any attention to them.

  “The curfew is in place,” Jeremy said. “There shouldn’t be anyone out and about except the Humongers. We should go now.”

  “But the curfew is on,” Jack said. “We can’t go out now, right? They’ve said they’ll shoot on sight, no exceptions.”

  “Now’s the right time,” Jesse said. “Gather up everything and pack your backpacks.”

  Once they were all ready, they put on their backpacks.

  Slatel came slowly out of the ground right next to Jack. Jack jumped.

  Steve laughed.

  “Sorry,” Slatel said, “I came up slowly so I wouldn’t scare you. I have found nothing underground except the pipe that extends from the tower in the center of the dome down to the bottom. It’s actually a sphere, not a dome. it looks like a dome from on top.”

  “We’re ready to go, hold hands,” Jesse instructed. “Remember, you’ll be invisible, but they can still hear you and kill you, so you must be careful and quiet.” She closed her eyes, and the seven disappeared.

  Chapter 19

  Outgunned

  “Where’s Haven?” Caroline asked. “She was supposed to wait for us right here.”

  “I thought she left before we got up the other morning,” Jeremy said.

  “She did, but not before I got up,” Caroline said. “She said she needed to do something, but would wait for us here.”

  “We’ll find her,” Jesse said.

  “Let her go,” Steve said. “She was alone before we found her. She’ll be okay now.”

  Jesse looked at Steve with disdain. “We need to find her.”

  “This is crazy,” Steve insisted. “We have a lot to do and not much time. We’re not babysitters. Let her go.”

  “No,” Jesse said. “We’re not leaving her behind.”

  Just then Haven came out from between two buildings and ran to Caroline. They embraced.

  Jesse turned to Steve. “You’re an idiot.”

  “What happened to you?” Caroline signed.

  Haven signed back. “Oh, I ran into a rosebush.”

  Steve took an interest in the two knives on Haven’s back. “Where’d you get these?” he asked, reaching for one.

  Haven knocked his hand away and looked at him with contempt.

  “Where have you been?” Caroline signed.

  “My dojo,” Haven signed. “I went to get my weapons. If I’m going to be part of the team, I need to be ready to fight with the team.”

  “Here, let me help you,” Jesse said.

  With a short hug, all Haven’s scratches disappeared. They returned to the stadium and boarded the V-22 Osprey. When Matt waved the Wand of Cetrekap over the team, their clothes changed from the Locals uniforms back to the team uniforms, and all the tattoos disappeared. They headed for Travis Air Force Base.

  ~~~

  It was midnight by the time they reached the base, which was bustling with activity. They carried their knapsacks over their shoulders. They had gotten into the habit of stowing everything inside the knapsacks, including their weapons, Jesse’s map, and Jeremy’s scroll, partly because the relatively small bags were pretty much ignored by everyone.

  Five officers exited the Central Command building just as the Alpha-6 team was about to enter. They went inside and were met by two soldiers barring them from going any farther.

  Steve had no patience at this point. Before the soldiers could react, he grabbed their weapons out of their hands, passed them to Matt and Jeremy, and, using a few karate moves, knocked both soldiers to the ground.

  The noise brought General Wisecoff out of the inner office. “This behavior is unacceptable. I’ll have you thrown in the brig if you continue to accost my men.”

  “You need to give complete authority across the board to the Alpha-6 team,” Caroline said. “We need unfettered access to any and all resources.”

  “That’s not happening,” the general said.

  “With all due respect, General, you have no idea what you’re facing,” Jack said. “The Alpha-6 team will be a central element to the success of fighting against the alien forces. If you want to win the war, you must give us access and you must listen to our recommendations.”

  “We were sent here by General Small,” Caroline said. “It’s by his authority the Alpha-6 team was created. He created the team to advise the war effort. We were sent here to Travis to help you.”

  “Captain Strong, I understand your enthusiasm for your team.” The general sighed deeply and continued. “We’ve already taken significant losses. General Small and all of his men were attacked yesterday and were completely wiped out. All the marines at Miramar were also attacked and wiped out.”

  “What about the other locations?” Jack asked.

  “Where we haven’t taken an aggressive posture against them, they seem to be satisfied with just waiting for something.” The general motioned for the team to follow him into the war room. “I’ve given orders to stand down. We’re setting up defense perimeters around all the domes, being sure to keep our distance so as not to provoke the aliens.”

  Matt looked at the rest of the team and then at the general. “The battle begins sometime in the morning on Wednesday. That gives you four days to get ready.”

  “You won’t be able to compete with the Torron army unless the team can figure out a way to lower their shields,” Jeremy said. “In order for us to figure this out, we need to be able to go anywhere at any time. We need full access to all of your resources.”

  The general looked at Caroline. “You know I can’t do that.” He pointed at the Alliance. “These kids aren’t old enough to enlist. I can’t authorize your request.”

  “Then who can?” Jeremy asked.

  “The defense secretary and the president,” General Wisecoff said.

  “Then ask them,” Steve said. “Now! Get them on the phone and get them to approve our request.”

  “That’s more of a demand than a request,” the general said.

  “Do you want to win or lose?” Steve said. “Their Locals army is being trained on futuristic weapons. Your ground troops won’t have a chance.”

  “How do you know the war will begin on Wednesday and what their weapons look like?” the general asked.

  “We went inside the dome in Oakland,” Caroline said.

  “You were inside the dome?” the general said with a look of doubt on his face. He rubbed his forehead. “How did you get inside the dome? What’s inside? How many soldiers do they have? What do their weapons look like?”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Steve said. “Slow down, cowboy. One at a time.”

  “We’re not answering any more questions until you authorize our team,” Caroline said. “We need full cooperation and authority.”

  “Captain, you know I can’t give you that without some kind of proof,” General Wiseco
ff said as he sat down at his desk. “You have to give me something.”

  “Here, I have something you can look at,” Matt said as he took his knapsack off his shoulder. He searched the small sack as if there were a hundred things inside. “Aha! Here they are.” He pulled out six boxes. He put three back and laid three in front of the general. “Open one of the boxes.”

  The general did so. “Okay, lots of tiny yellow beads.”

  “Yes, there are two hundred beads in each box: yellow, blue, and red,” Matt confirmed. He reached into his knapsack again and this time pulled out the Torron army weapon.

  The general watched wide-eyed.

  Matt pointed to the three chambers on the side of the weapon. “The beads go into the three magazines. The yellow magazine loads the top barrel. It shoots bullets. The tiny yellow beads automatically load into the chamber, and there they’re transformed into bullets. The blue beads load into the chamber of the second barrel and become powerful grenades. The red beads load into the third chamber and become high-powered laser arrows. The weapon can be fired as semiautomatic or fully automatic. When the war starts, each of the Torron soldiers, including the Locals, will be issued ten boxes of each color. Get someone to test this weapon. You’ll quickly see we’ll be outgunned.”

  The general called in his most experienced weapons expert and handed him the weapon and the three boxes of ammo. “I want to see this weapon in action.”

  The Alpha-6 team followed the general to the practice range. Jeremy showed the soldier how to load and fire the weapon and then handed it to him.

  The setup of the practice range was fairly simple. There were targets set up at varying distances. Behind them was a dirt wall, and to the right was a twenty-foot-tall concrete wall. In front of the wall were several vehicles used as targets. Beyond the range was a small hill.

  “There’s no recoil,” Jeremy said. “You’ll be able to train the weapon on your target without the interruption of a kickback.”

  The soldier first fired the rifle. After only a few shots, he went to fully automatic and annihilated three targets. He moved to the grenades, and with only a few rounds, destroyed an old tank that was there. Four of the grenades missed the tank and hit the concrete wall, taking out a four-foot section. When he switched to the laser arrows, he aimed at the wall. They embedded themselves eight inches, and once there, they glowed bright orange and exploded, leaving four-foot gaping holes in the six-foot-thick concrete.